No features. Design gives system an insecure feeling. SD slot tricky to access.

Bottom Line

The Bud Pi Sandwich provides a fitting chassis for the Raspberry Pi mini computer, but some may find its complete lack of frills a turnoff.

The Raspberry Pi, a sub-$40 computer that's little more than a credit card–size printed circuit board (PCB) armed with a few basic ports, doesn't technically require a case. Unlike desktop PCs, which derive cooling, connectivity, and occasionally other benefits from their cases, the Raspberry Pi needs only general protection and an easy way to be carried. So Bud Industries has created a case, called the Pi Sandwich, that gives you nothing extra, at a price ($6.40 list) as ridiculously low as that of the Raspberry Pi itself. Provided that's all you're looking for, the Pi Sandwich gets the job done.

Just know up front that there's not a lot to it. The Pi Sandwich consists of two identical halves, crafted from transparent red plastic (and emblazoned with a large "pi" symbol and the Bud logo). Place the Raspberry Pi in the center of one half, matching its edges to the six internal brackets, then snap the other case half on top to create the simplest of all possible enclosures. Four openings, one on each of the case's "sides," provide necessary access to the ports. When you're done using the computer, just unplug everything, pick up the case, and you're ready to go.

Bud clearly designed the 2.5-by-3.4-by-5.1-inch (HWD) Pi Sandwich with an eye toward the future. The openings are big, but noncommittally so, so Raspberry Pi incarnations yet to come can play with the format as long as they don't change the original footprint. (The design also makes it possible for the case to hold two Raspberry Pi units at once, in case you have an eye on constructing a doubly powerful PC.) And in terms of ease of use, the Pi Sandwich is a winner: It takes just seconds to get the PCB in or out, and you'll never be stymied by what to do or how to do it. You don't get anything that's fancy, or that extends the capability of the system in any definable way, but such things will not be a concern for most owners of the Raspberry Pi who aren't dedicated DIYers.

Unfortunately, the construction does have some drawbacks. The size and orientation of the windows make it trickier than it should be to an install or remove the SD card you need for storage. And although the Pi Sandwich is sturdy as assembled, and doesn't come apart easily (you have to tug at the two sections to get them to come apart), the Raspberry Pi doesn't feel completely secure within it. Use the ports at the short ends (the micro USB, Ethernet, or USB 2.0) and you can feel and see the PCB move as you apply pressure. Push too hard when inserting HDMI, audio, or RCA cables (on the board's long ends) and you run the risk of dislodging the Raspberry Pi from the clips altogether, something that happened to us a couple of times during our testing.

Turn the case upside down, and the Raspberry Pi stays put. But gently shake, or even just nudge, the Pi Sandwich and you can hear the PCB rattle around inside it. All of this is hardly the end of the world, of course, but the effect is a bit unsettling—we don't want even our inexpensive computers to feel cheap. Which, within the confines of the Pi Sandwich, the Raspberry Pi frequently did.

Still, it's tough to beat the price of the Pi Sandwich. Ringing in at about a fifth of the cost of the Raspberry Pi itself, it's well in line with—and, in many ways, even cheaper than—what you'd expect from cases for full-size desktop computers. And it does everything it needs to, if absolutely nothing more. That's not a bad combination, but it's not exactly a world-shattering one, either.

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About the Author

Matthew Murray got his humble start leading a technology-sensitive life in elementary school, where he struggled to satisfy his ravenous hunger for computers, computer games, and writing book reports in Integer BASIC. He earned his B.A. in Dramatic Writing at Western Washington University, where he also minored in Web design and German. He has been... See Full Bio

Bud Pi Sandwich

Bud Pi Sandwich

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